Blood
Timber, the Latest Conflict Commodity

Brandon
Sun “Small World” Column, Monday, July 27 / 15Zack Gross

Academics
and observers who study what makes some countries abjectly poor
and conflict-ridden, say that being landlocked, being ruled
dictatorially and possessing coveted natural resources are a
recipe for national disaster.

The Central African Republic (CAR) is a current example of this
“rule,” a smaller,
less publicized version of the Congo, with a long history
of violence both civil and regional, yet replete with coveted
resources such as diamonds, uranium and timber along with
potential oil and gas in the future!

Coups in 2013 and 2014 have left the country armed and divided,
with at least five thousand people killed in the past year and
up to a million people displaced and living as refugees either
internally or outside the country. On the surface, it
appears as if the conflict is fuelled by religious differences
(Muslim vs. Christian) but that is more an outcome of the
economic and political battle over power and resource
wealth.

The key players internationally in the conflict have been
France, a former colonial presence in the CAR; Chad and
Sudan, next door neighbours to the CAR covetous of
resources; South Africa, interested in current and future
mineral deposits and one of Africa's “superpowers”, and China,
now a huge influence throughout the continent with millions of
its nationals involved in economic development to China's
advantage.

The remnants of past CAR governments, going back more than a
decade, fall in and out of favour with these powerful actors,
depending on how the country can be manipulated as a resource
cash cow. Their militia's spread terror throughout the CAR
and finance their internal struggle by selling resources to the
above countries. As is often the case, a United
Nations-initiated peacekeeping force much smaller than is
necessary is stationed in the country but unable to manage the
situation.

Global
Witness, an anti-corruption organization and Enough!,
which focuses on genocide and crimes against humanity, have
publicized the situation in the CAR. The logging industry
has drawn particular criticism, as European (particularly France
and Germany) and Chinese concerns are estimated to have paid
millions of dollars to both Muslim and Christian rebel groups as
well as into state taxes in purchasing timber for export to
their countries.

Just as with diamonds in past years (watch the Leonardo Leonardo
DiCaprio movie Blood
Diamond if you haven't already!), the European Union has a
legal obligation to keep illicit timber off the market. A
similar regulation brought in by the Kimberly Process in the
diamond industry helped to clean up that market so that
consumers could access fair trade or at least no-conflict
diamonds. As a positive result of this process, our own
northern Canadian diamonds entered the marketplace as an
alternative to those coming from questionable sources overseas.

In contrast to the diamond experience, imports of conflict
timber into France, as an example, despite EU regulations have
increased by over 200%. A French timber company
representative, interviewed and secretly taped by Global Witness
responded to concerns that timber sales fuel CAR's internal war
with these words: “It's Africa. (War) is so common
we don't really pay attention...It's not a war where they attack
white people. It's not a war we have to avoid.”

Some will argue that jobs created in the CAR by the logging
industry outweigh the war that it fuels. However, the
other side of the story is that the country continues to
generate civilian deaths, abject poverty, despotic governance
and large numbers of refugees. An election was recently
called by an interim government to be held in October of this
year. At the same time, it was announced that those who
have fled the country (at least 10% of the population) will be
excluded from the electoral process.

Others have backed the chances of changing the direction of the
country through the influx of development aid from abroad but,
ironically, many countries putting money into assistance are
also breaking international rules to access timber. A
forest management plan paid for with French aid dollars may just
be another ploy to insert Europe's interests into the
industry. And taxes paid by foreign exporters for the
timber do not impact on CAR's population but only enrich the
leaders of its failed state.

Groups in opposition to the current situation are calling on the
African Union and United Nations to address the key challenges
facing the Central African Republic: securing the
country's borders to seal if off from regional conflicts and
military incursions; reforming the national resources sector to
make it an engine of economic and social development for all
citizens; working with all stakeholders (military,
religious, women, youth and others) to bring about national
reconciliation; and aiding real sustainable development in the
country from health to education to the justice
system.

This situation is another example of how the “developed world”
consumes the resources of poor countries with little regard to
the effect on people overseas. Hopefully, as with the
international diamond trade, shining the light of publicity on
it can help to bring about a positive resolution.Zack Gross is a former
Executive Director of the Marquis
Project in Brandon.